Bakkt says it is & # 39; Cleared to Launch & # 39; Bitcoin Futures next month

Baked is cleared for launch.

Intercontinental Exchange's young subsidiary announced Friday that it had purchased a New York State Trust through the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). The approval clears for the company to begin offering its long-awaited, physically settled futures contracts for bitcoin. The company intends to launch its products on September 23.

Bakkt was first unveiled in August last year, and has been working with regulatory approvals to begin offering the product for the past year. It intends to offer two types of contracts: a daily and a monthly contract. Both will be settled at Bakkt Warehouse, part of the New York chartered trust company.

In a blog post Friday, Bakkt CEO Kelly Loefler wrote, "Our contracts have already been given the green light by the CFTC through the self-certification process and user acceptance testing has begun."

"Approved by New York State Department of Financial Services to create Bakkt Trust Company, a qualified custodian, Bakkt Warehouse will capture bitcoin for physically delivered future, "she said. "This offers customers exceptional regulatory clarity and security, along with a regulated, globally accessible exchange in a market that is undervalued by institutional quality."

She went on to add:

"Unique, Baked bitcoin futures contracts will not rely on unregulated spot market for settlement prices, thus serving as a transparent price discovery mechanism for the bitcoin reference price. The importance of this differentiator is reinforced only by reports of significant manipulative spot market activity, and other concerns such as inconsistent money laundering policies and poor control compliance. "

Kelly Loeffler image via CoinDesk archives